The Score Thus Far: VUE 1, Prometric 0

This morning, I witnessed an IT certification exam candidate get turned away from our testing center because of yet another glitch with the Thomson Prometric exam delivery application. This scene broke my heart; the spurned candidate was none too happy either, I assure you.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, I make no apology for my strongly held opinion that, at least as far as I am professionally concerned, Pearson VUE is a much nicer, much more reliable exam delivery company than is its only competitor, Thomson Prometric.

By contrast, Prometric requires that all of their testing centers lend their candidates only dry-erase boards. Yuk.

Let me tell you from where my 'Yuk" exhortation originates: Dollars to donuts, the dry erase board that you will be given has been written on and erased so many times as to leave a permanent discoloration (let's call it a smudge) that makes it extraordinarily difficult to use in practice.

Couple the smeared dry-erase boards with an almost dry dry-erase pen, and you have yourself one frustrated exam candidate. This candidate materials approach is especially problematic for certification exams that lend themselves to detailed schematic diagrams or (the horrors!) mathematics. Not cool.